


Leaving Here, Not You

by stardustkr7



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Pre Season 2, museum heist on fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 02:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustkr7/pseuds/stardustkr7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis finally corners Barbara in a locked closet. Also, one of the many times Babs and Arty made out without the boys around to watch them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving Here, Not You

 “Dammit.”

“I thought we had found all of these ages ago!”

“We’re stuck,” Barbara concluded, giving the solid metal door one last push. It didn’t budge. “Great.”

“No metas with super hearing upstairs either,” Artemis sighed, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor of the tiny closet.

There were a few of these scattered throughout the Cave, tightly secured but long since disconnected closets. The idea had been to store gear in various places around back when the League was still here in case they needed to get to something quick. It was a safety precaution that Batman himself had installed.

Which meant the closets and passageways were incredibly difficult to find and the trick to opening the doors incredibly difficult to duplicate. But sometimes they also still had things stuffed into the corners, like traps to be disassembled. Or to trip up two teenaged girls and trap them inside.

“Try Mg’ann?” Barbara suggested. It was the Martian’s fault they were in this predicament anyway. She had insisted there was a badminton set down in the basement somewhere that would go great with their end of summer BBQ. So Barb, tired of socializing for the time, volunteered to go get it.

“Her and Zatanna must have left to run to the store already,” Artemis said, frowning up at the ceiling. The telepath had not heard their mental calls.

For some reason, the blonde had insisted on coming with her, claiming there was also volleyball net she could have sworn she saw down here too. Showed how busy they were that it was nearly the end of the summer and they were finally all getting around to actually doing summer activities on the beach.

“Wonderful.”

Barbara also sank to the floor, not looking forward to an indefinite time stuck in a small closet with Artemis. At least there was still the dim glow stripe at the top of the opposite wall, barely keeping them out of complete darkness.

“We could try to pick the lock,” Artemis suggested. Neither had bothered with carrying around gear, a shameful lack of foresight.

“If you can find the lock, sure.”

“Hey, I’m trying to solve the problem!”

“Well it’s not going to work,” Barbara snapped.

A frosty silence followed, one that was agonizingly familiar over the past several weeks. And it was driving Artemis crazy.

“I’ve had it, Barbara. We need to talk about this,” she finally said.

“Talk about what?”

“This attitude you’ve been giving me lately.”

“I haven’t been giving you an attitude,” said Barbara, rolling her eyes.

“Yes you have. You acted like you were happy that I decided to go to Stanford with Wally and then you gave me the cold shoulder ever since,” said Artemis. “You and Bette went shopping without me!”

“You hate shopping.”

“So do you! But we both love laughing at the crazy things Bette says!” The blonde growled her frustration, running a hand through her hair. “Also, we haven’t fooled around with our boyfriends-”

“Dick is not my boyfriend!”

“Our boyfriends,” Artemis continued, ignoring the interjection, “since Wally and I announced we were leaving.”

“We’ve gone longer without doing it before,” said Barbara.

“Look, you’re my best friend. Don’t tell M’gann because she’s sensitive but it’s really you, Barbara. And I thought my best friend is supposed to be happy for me.”

“I am happy for you!” Barbara insisted, folding her arms. “You and your boy get to leave all this behind and go away to college and it will be great for you. What’s not to be happy about?”

“I told you we aren’t just picking up and leaving everything and everyone behind. We just need to work on things for a while that are important. I thought you of all people understood what this meant to me!”

“I do understand! It’s a great opportunity! You’d be crazy to pass it up!”

“Why are you acting jealous then? You have even better grades than me. You could be leaving Gotham too,” Artemis pointed out.

Barbara glared. “You know I can’t.”

“Because of him.”

“No.”

They both knew very well that the ‘him’ Artemis referred to was neither her father nor her caped and masked boss.

“Talk to me Barbara,” Artemis pled after a moment.

The redhead looked away, ashamed. She hated feeling like this, knowing that her anger at impending change, her fear of things outside her control, was completely irrational. She had always prided herself on being prepared to adapt when necessary. Her best girlfriend leaving shouldn’t upset her so much.

“Everything is going to be different with you gone,” she finally said quietly.

“I know.”

Barbara always appreciated the fact that Artemis didn’t try to lie to spare her feelings.

“But not everything. Not us,” she amended.

“You don’t know that. And I feel terrible for feeling so angry when I should be happy for you. So maybe I don’t deserve to still be your best friend anyway,” Barbara concluded bitterly.

The other girl moved closer.

“I thought I was going to be the one insanely jealous of you getting into a fancy college and going away and leaving me behind,” Artemis said.

“I’m not jealous.”

“Babs … I’m not leaving you behind.”

She looked up at her with a sad smile. “You should. I’m being a terrible best friend.”

“No you’re not. Well, maybe you were, a little. But I know you still care.”

“You’ll make new friends who don’t have to ditch you for hero work.”

“Yeah and they will be boring as hell and not nearly as gorgeous,” Artemis said, smirking and leaning forward to rest her forehead against Barbara’s.

Barbara reached over and took her hand, linking their fingers together. “I’m sorry I’m not handling this better.”

“It’s okay. I just don’t want to leave things between us like this.” Her thumb caressed her hand, making the redhead sigh.

“Arty…”

“Babs,” she said, pressing forward and kissing the other girl firmly.

Artemis loved the way their friendship worked, how they could do this and it wasn’t anything strange or uncomfortable. And she would be lying if she said she hadn’t also been struggling with the idea of moving away. Where else would she find a friend so chill with exercising their bisexual tendencies?

It was more than that of course. And normally she would have Barbara to encourage her but these past several weeks had made her doubt herself and her choice so many times. So it was her turn to assure Barbara that things between them wouldn’t change so her best female friend could give her confirmation that this was the right choice. She needed her friend back.

And they were both excellent kissers.

Hands began to wander around waists and up shirts as they passed the time, still lip locked.

“You know, I’m beginning to think you just pretended to act grumpy to lure me into a closet to make out,” Artemis said, giggling as Barbara kissed under her ear.

“That would take a lot of planning,” Barbara murmured, sucking on her ear lobe.

“You love planning,” the blonde commented, going for Barb’s mouth again. She was wondering if she could get the other girl’s shirt off when suddenly, the closet door was ripped from its hinges.

“There you two ar-ohh! Sorry!”

The two pulled apart to see M’gann and Zatanna in the doorway, the Martian looking very sheepish about finding them kissing. The magician just smirked knowingly.

“We thought you guys might have gotten stuck in one of these,” M’gann explained, cheeks turning darker green as she set aside the door she had destroyed.

“We did,” Barbara assured her, standing up and offering Artemis a hand.

“Not in too much of a hurry to find a way out though,” Zatanna commented.

The redhead looked a little embarrassed but Artemis didn’t seem to care.

“We tried calling for you but you guys had left already,” she explained as they replaced the door and headed back up the hallway. “And you know it’s impossible to pick the locks on those cupboards.”

“Sorry!” M’gann offered again.

“It’s okay,” said Barbara, making eye contact with Artemis and smiling. It would be okay, they were going to be okay.

 


End file.
